Melisa Gay Michelsen

Worst experience I have ever had with an attorney or firm. Litten in Sipe has an impressive building on the outside but inside is a different story. Very poor customer service and even 5 minute returned calls are billed at least three-quarters of an hour. That is if you can get them to give detaile...d billing records. Melisa billed for more than 3 hours reading the Landlord Tenant Act. If she is billing herself as a professional shouldn't she be familiar with basic Virginia Law? I was very unimpressed with her ability to give a clear and concise argument to the judge. He looked at her a few times and asked her to rephrase her statement, giving her a chance to accurately quote the law. I did win the case but no thanks to Melissa, I could have done better without her and saved almost $6000 in legal fees. Before hiring Melissa or anyone at Litten and Sipe be sure to get them to give you in writing their fee structure and agree to give you itemized billing records at the time they bill for service. I have since spoken to others that have had the same problems with her firm. They send a summary bill without any specifics and fight giving anything itemized. I was told I would have to pay for an hour or more of Melissa's time additionally if I wanted to see what she had listed for the time she billed. Since time is all a firm has to sell, shouldn’t they be entering this information anyway into their computer ? She is a very pleasant person and perhaps someone you may want to have as a neighbor, but in no way demonstrates her 16 years of practice with skills or knowledge. Choose someone else if you want a good value for your money.